Exactly what is FREE WILL?

What exactly is Free Will??

Dictionary - free will - the power of independent action and choice

I have never understood the idea that 'individuals' truly have free will. We are born without our permission, carried by the
current of life of which most is out of my control, die without my permission at a time I do not get to choose. I sometimes
choose things in my life but they are all choices governed by other limitations and circumstances also not my choice. So
free will in my opinion is a myth fostered by whatever controls humans, and includes humans controlling other humans.

What say you?

-- Updated Tue Mar 06, 2012 5:50 am to add the following --

I do not know why my sentences get broken up - not my intention

Free will, are you talking about the human ability to exert it's ability or perfect free will, unencumbered by external influences? We have the free will to decide dependant on lifes experiences. The later, perfect, is an impossiblity. Whatever you consume or are influenced by will destroy any ability to act from a perfect view point. Judging free will is not about judging the individual but understanding how that freedom was influenced. So yes we have free will.

The words 'free will' are not in the bible but choose is used many times.

Wouldn't real free will be free of any consequences? As a child I could choose between 2 outfits on any given day. I did not
have free will to choose other than the choice given me. (I had other clothes) How did predetermined choice become
free will? If a parent says to a child - you can share your toy or not share but if you choose not to share you will go to your
room away from me and out of my sight. I just don't see free will in choice that has consequence.

A ferocious panther is chasing a rabbit. After a short chase, the rabbit is caught by the hungry thing. We are overhearing their last conversation:

"It is contaminating the minds of our young thinkers with that subversive ideas.", said the panther.
"What?", said the desperate rabbit.
"So yes we have free will", said the panther, "Nature prey on the hopes of the desperate".
Then the fluffy is swallowed alive.

The rabbit is born without his permission and shrouded by the hopes. If it can foresee the ending of his story, will he still commit to the game of prey? Ever since the rabbit is veiled from the truth as his condition of living, he has no free agency.

The rabbit represents the existential state of blind commitment . Such positive free will seems giving the human ability to exert it's ability , unencumbered by external influences, yet it is still not the definition of free will as the power of independent action and choice.

It is hard to find any idea and will that is not influenced by the set of environment and genetic disposition.

Now let's consider, what if the rabbit is given a chance to be fully informed of the ending of his life story by God before being born into the natural world. Will that change give the rabbit a state of free agency? We are overhearing their last conversation:

After God has told rabbit the truth of the rabbit life, the rabbit said, "make me a panther".
So the shape shifted.
After God has told panther the truth of his tragic ending as being hunted by men for their skin, the panther said, "make me a human".
So the shape shifted again.
After God has told the entire history of men on Earth, the panther become silent.
God is bewildered, "What?".
The panther's eyes is packed with tear, said the desperate, " I bet you make me the nothingness".

So is the freedom of truth enable independent action and choice?

Ok pal, be ready to surrender, or you must challenge the things of Creation .

Nice story wisdom. If you commit to life then the consequences are profound. What is freedom? Nothing more than the ability to understand you have none.

Hello Love of Wisdom,

Your story is flawed -continue - humans would say I want to be God. I do not think your story is relevant to discernment of free will as applies to humans. All animals of prey do not end up as dinner but live the total time their species dictates.
Without an animal story what do you think free will is and does it exist?

Misty wrote:

What exactly is Free Will??

Dictionary - free will - the power of independent action and choice

Even the shortest dictionaryn of philosophy woulod haqve more to say about free will than this, and most ofn it would be objections to the idea that free will exists.
Free will is a necessary subtheme in the Christian story as without Free Will belief all the ordinary man's Christian beliefs would collapse. Consequently religionists have supported the idea of Free Will for millennia until we in the 'West' believe in it intuitively.

I think that to believe that we humans do not have free-will is a pessimistic approach to the subject, based upon negative inferences of being imprisoned by circumstances which can effect freedom of choice. From my perspective, I have free-will to decide what course my life will take. Of course my decisions can be influenced by circumstances, but I still have free-will to choose what type of person I am going to be, to make moral choices, to choose what I am going to eat, whether I exercise or not, if I will study a subject a University, the list choices that I have free-will to make are too many to describe here.

I think that we humans having free-will, allows us to shape our person and our lives.

I think that to believe that we humans do not have free-will is a pessimistic approach to the subject, based upon negative inferences of being imprisoned by circumstances which can effect freedom of choice. From my perspective, I have free-will to decide what course my life will take. Of course my decisions can be influenced by circumstances, but I still have free-will to choose what type of person I am going to be, to make moral choices, to choose what I am going to eat, whether I exercise or not, if I will study a subject a University, the list choices that I have free-will to make are too many to describe here.

I think that we humans having free-will, allows us to shape our person and our lives.

So what can destroy our ability to exert our free will? Brain damage? A terrible childhood with no moral teaching? Witness to the killing of our family? Left with nothing to eat but human flesh? Do you think if men acted because of their experiences and acted immorally they would be exerting their free will? You appear to telling me that free will is the ability to do good because you have had good experiences and a moral education. A wolf has as much free will as you or I with these examples. So what is so special about mans free will?

If there is no such thing as free will, then there is no such thing as right and wrong, because you had no choice. Free will is choice.

In my opinion and the way I see things today , Free Will the the freedom to do whatever you want to do, as long as it conforms within the boundaries set by those who make the laws and rules in the area of the planet you live at. It changes depending on how that areas government and legal system wished to control the population. Its not moral, ethical, or even a God given right, if there really is such a thing. It is just what those in power allow you to get away with.

If there is no such thing as free will, then there is no such thing as right and wrong, because you had no choice. Free will is choice.

I don't agree with this literally, but it is true that the spirit of it is that to deny Free Will is to raise the problem of personal responsibility.
I contend that Free Will, even if it existed, would be insufficient to account for personal responsibility as Free Will would not be any more responsible than random choice, e.g. sticking a pin in a bit of paper.

It is human nature to seek for the good however 'the good' be defined, to the extent that to renounce that particular human activity is to renounce one's human condition. Within this natural good-seeking that humans do, reason and feelings are what decide right and wrong. Reason and feelings should not be thought of as 'Free Will' since they are caused : optimum reason and feelings are caused by inheritance, natural selection , and environmental factors such as a safe family life for the growing child.

Exactly what is free will?

It, like freedom, is one of those things that you lose by not believing that you had it.

Again - when did predetermined choice become free will? What if the choices offered are not to your liking and do not
include what you want to do? How is that free will?
Wouldn't true 'free will' be free of all influence? Wouldn't each person be completely equipped with ALL knowledge in order
to have free will?? Humans do not have true free will. Choice is not free will.
Does God have free will??

Again - when did predetermined choice become free will? What if the choices offered are not to your liking and do not include what you want to do? How is that free will?

You have the choice to not want for what you can't have (well some of us do).
And you have the choice to decide which of the many possibilities for which to yearn and reach.

Wouldn't true 'free will' be free of all influence?

No. Absolutely not.
Nothing is possible, until something is impossible.
Total ontological freedom allows for no existence.

Wouldn't each person be completely equipped with ALL knowledge in order to have free will?? Humans do not have true free will. Choice is not free will.
Does God have free will??

You have decisions that you can make.
Each decision is another free choice.
It is because of the constraints on some things, that other things can choose between them.
There is no absolute freedom nor absolute control (depending on your definition of God).